Fox Rejects ’24’ Movie Script

Jack Bauer's big screen return suffers a setback.

At the end of the eighth and final season of "24," Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) found himself on the run from his own government and forced to flee the country. And now it looks like he’ll have to keep running a little longer than expected.

Although the "24" feature film follow up appeared to be on the horizon, Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Fox has rejected the script by Billy Ray ("State of Play").

“As far as I know, [the project] is in suspended animation,” explained former "24" executive producer, Howard Gordon. ”There is talk about re-approaching it. I understand (director/producer) Tony Scott is meeting with Kiefer to talk about ideas. People are still talking about it.”

“I was disapppointed [Fox] passed on the script but I’m certainly hopeful that the movie will get made at some point,” added Gordon. “Anecdotally, I’ve heard from people who are really missing the show and I do think there is more life in Jack Bauer.”

Back in April, Sutherland seemed excited at the prospect of telling a "24" story on the big screen without being tied to the "real time" gimmick.

"We’ve always had to have the situation come to us," said Sutherland at BAFTA event (via IGN). "But now it’s feasible to get [Jack Bauer] from Eastern Europe to England [during the movie]."